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Angels-Tigers Preview

May 1, 2010 - 3:38 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Los Angeles (12-11) at Detroit (13-10), 1:05 p.m. EDT

Veterans Johnny Damon and Miguel Cabrera continue to produce for the Detroit Tigers. The team's rookies are doing the same.

The Tigers look to match a season high with their fourth straight victory Saturday when they try to clinch a series win against the visiting Los Angeles Angels.

Damon has fit in well in his first season in Detroit, hitting .329 while reaching base safely in all but three games. The two-time All-Star went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and scored his 1,500th run in Friday's 10-6 series-opening win over the Angels. Cabrera was 3 for 5 and improved his batting average to .344.

The Tigers (14-10) also received a boost from a trio of first-year players. Center fielder Austin Jackson, who is batting .364 and leads the AL with 36 hits, went 5 for 5 on Friday while fellow rookies Scott Sizemore and Brennan Boesch each homered during an eight-run fourth inning.

Sizemore hit a solo shot and Boesch followed six batters later with a grand slam to become the first teammates since Cleveland's Victor Martinez and Earl Snyder on Sept. 29, 2002, to hit their first career home runs in the same inning.

"All three of us are rookies, and we kind of feed off each other," said Jackson, who became the first Detroit rookie with a five-hit game since Curtis Granderson on Sept. 18, 2005.

The Tigers are batting .333 and averaging 8.0 runs during their winning streak.

"They have a few guys in the lineup that will make you pay if you make some mistakes," Scott Kazmir told the Angels' official website.

Kazmir (2-1, 7.20 ERA) gets the ball for Los Angeles (12-12) as he tries to win three straight starts for the first time since he won six in a row May 10-June 6, 2008, with Tampa Bay. The left-hander walked a season-high four and gave up two home runs in his last outing, but picked up the victory in Sunday's 8-4 win over the Yankees.

"I had to battle out there pretty much the whole time, and some days that's what you've got to do," Kazmir said after giving up four runs and three hits in 5 1/3 innings. "I didn't have the velocity I wanted, so I had to keep the ball down and make pitches."

Kazmir notched his first victory of the season against Detroit on April 20, yielding two runs and six hits in a 6-5 win.

"It is different to come right back and pitch against the same team so quickly but that is part of the game," he said.

Jeremy Bonderman (1-1, 6.97) also gets his second look at the same team. In Detroit's 4-3 victory in Anaheim on April 21, he allowed one hit in his final five innings after giving up three runs in the first.

Bonderman had a better start in Monday's 8-6 loss in Texas, retiring the first 11 he faced. The right-hander lasted 5 2/3 innings, giving up four runs and six hits.

"I thought he hit a wall," manager Jim Leyland told the Tigers' official website. "He disagreed."

Bonderman is 3-3 with a 4.66 ERA in 11 starts against Los Angeles.

Torii Hunter, who is 14 for 36 lifetime versus Bonderman, has homered in two straight games and is batting .414 with two homers and 10 RBIs in his last seven at Comerica Park.

Tigers outfielder Magglio Ordonez is questionable after leaving Friday's game with abdominal cramping.